Lobster-car



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet,- 1.

A. M. & M. s. WESTON. LOBSTER GAB.

No. 428,983. Patented May 27, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALDEN M. WESTON AND MILES S. WVESTON, OF IVARREN, MAINE.

LOBSTER-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 428,983, dated May 27, 1890. Application filed January 29, 1890. Serial No. 338,462. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALDEN M. IVESTON and MILES S. WVESTON, of WVarren, in the county of Knox and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lobster-Cars; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact .description of the same.

Our invention is 'an improved lobster-car. \Vhile it is designed especially for storage of lobsters, it may be used for holding other shell-fish, or fish generally, where they are to be kept under water for the sake of preserving them fresh and alive.

Our invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents an end View; Fig. 2, a side elevation with the car lowered; Fig. 3, a sectional elevation with the car partially raised; Fig. 4c, a top view.

Our car consists of two principal parts, a box and a supporting-frame provided with hoisting mechanism. The supporting-frame consists of a rectangular base composed of timbers A and corner-posts B set in the base, these corner-posts rising perpendicular from said base. The posts may be strengthened by upper beams O and any suitable bracing, and if the size require it an intermediate postD may also be used. In the outer ends of the frame, on the upper side, are transverse hoisting-rollers E, journaled in the top of the post and provided with cranks or any suitable means by which they may be rotated, and with pawls and ratchets for bolding them in any desired position. The box is fitted to go down into this frame loosely, so that it may freely be raised or lowered. It is made from end to end shorter than the distance between the posts at one end and those of the other, so that the box may be dipped by raising one end more than the other, as shown in Fig. 3. The boxis divided into compartments by means of horizontal partitions f. The compartments are marked 1 2 3, beginningat the top. These compartments are provided with entrances to each, but all open at the top. The entrance of the 'upper compartment is by a simple opening the compartments.

from the top through the first and second, opening into the lowest compartment. Each compartment has a sliding door at the end (marked Z) on a level with its floor and opening to the outside. These doors are all at one end, and the car is arranged to allow that end to be lower than the other when the car is elevated to discharge the contents of The frame should be made sufliciently buoyant to sustain steadily the car and allow it to be hoisted with one end higher than the other. The car is raised by means of ropes and chains, which are wound upon the pulleys and are attached to the car, preferably near the bottom, one beingat each corner. It will be understood that the car is lowered into the frame for its ordinary use of holding the lobsters or other things to be kept in them.

WVhen it is desired to remove the content-s, the car is hoisted in an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 3, until the lower end of the upper compartment is a little above the surface of the water. The water escapes therefrom by gravity, and with the water the lobsters, or whatever else may be in the compart-ments, will also escape through the opening and may be caught in the net or any other suitable receptacle. In the same way by further raising of the car the second compartment and the third may be emptied. The horizontal compartments serve to give more floor-space for the lobsters as well as to facilitate the removal of them. I do not limit myself in respect to the number of these compartments.

We claim as our invention In combination, a frame having a central opening, a car moving vertically in said opening, said car being of less extent than the opening, so as to be allowed tilting movement, means for raising and lowering each end independently, an opening in the top, and an opening at the end on a level with the floor, whereby the contents of the car can be removed when the car is tilted, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALDEN M. IVESTON. MILES S. WESTON. lVitnessesz,

JOHN W. DUNBAR, JOHN L. TEAGUE. 

